ELIZABETH SURPRISES SUMMIT
Varsity was looking at a tricky match versus Elizabeth, a highly anticipated rematch with Kent Place and an important rematch with a dangerous Rahway to close out the week before embarking on another run in the Healing the Children Tournament on Saturday.
The Top lost the battle of points by a 25-24 margin against Elizabeth. Elizabeth matched the Top with 19 kills but out-aced the Hilltoppers 6-3. But the real problem was that the Minutewomen were just a bit better on receive (2.11 -1.98) and it allowed what generally is an inconsistent offense to be much more effective and match the Hilltopper offensive output.
The start of the match though, looked incredibly promising for the Summit squad. SHS had gotten kills from 4 different players and had kept Elizabeth to 2 points as SHS forced an Elizabeth TO down 9-2. Nothing much changed after the TO as the Top continued to lead 12-4 a few rotations later but then 3 hitting errors and a net fault by the SHS crew had the lead down to 13-8. Then an ace and a kill by EHS around another hitting error saw the home squad get closer at 13-11. But the Top settled into the game and hit on 5 consecutive offensive sets that negated EHS's serving attack and late in the set, Elizabeth called its final TO as the Top has pulled away to a 19-15 lead. Unfortunately, a hitting error off the TO gave the ball back to EHS but yet again, all seemed well after another Ge kill gave the Top a 20-16 lead.
But then the Hilltoppers began to feel the pressure of the Elizabeth "D" despite the lead.
Kill EHS, Ace EHS, Hitting error SHS... 20-19... Hitting error EHS, 21-19, a sigh of relief...
Kill EHS, Kill EHS, Ace EHS... 21-22... Block Deyonge, 22-22...
Attack error SHS... 22-23... Ball Handling error EHS, 23-23...Long Rally which saw the Summit D notch 4 digs and a block that was retrieved by the EHS defense and ended in a free ball return error by the Top gave EHS a 24-23 lead and a set point... Next play saw the Hilltoppers get 2 rips at the set tying point that were handled by EHS until the SHS side was unable to keep a free ball in play on set point to give EHS the set 1 win.
Set 2 saw a much more even match with EHS leading Summit 14-10 but then SHS got an ace by N Feuerstake on a serving rotation that got the Top back to within one at 14-13. Elizabeth got the serve back at 15-13 but an A Feuerstake kill and a Deyonge kill had the visitors back to a tie at 15 and looking like they were about to take control. The Minutewomen coaching staff saw the same after a Ge kill had Summit chomping at their heels at 16-17 and the TO seemed to do the trick as the Summit team gave up the next few points and trailed 19-17 a rotation later. Summit kept fighting but Elizabeth refused to allow a run and at 22-20 it seemed that the next few points would be vital to the Hilltoppers' chances to take set 2. EHS thought the same and the home squad not only won the next point, it won the next 3 with SHS giving up 2 aces late which gave the Elizabeth squad the victory.
KENT PLACE BRINGS OPPORTUNITY TO RIGHT THE SHIP
The Hilltoppers reset themselves at practice and walked to Kent Place looking to redeem their loss by a 26-24 score in set 3 in their first meeting of 2024. The task this time would be a bit more difficult as Kent Place had their best hitter back from injury and were a far more dangerous team than the version that the Hilltoppers faced in their first match.
Summit was in for a big challenge and the squad rose to the challenge in a big way. Despite the perceived offensive advantage for the Dragons, SHS only lost the kill battle 26-28... Summit won the block battle 5-2 and barely lost the ace battle 11-10 for a total point output of 41-41 for both teams! The squad had far exceeded expectations but came up a little short of the win as Summit dropped set 1 26-24, won the 2nd 25-21, and lost the 3rd 25-21.
Set 1 was a slugfest and the final tally of 14-13 point scoring edge by KP reflected the tightness of the final set score. The only major difference between the 2 teams were the 3 faults the Hilltoppers were called on versus none for the Dragons. The teams were locked in a sideout battle most of the set with no team up by more than 2 at any given point until the score read 19-17 SHS. Then the Dragons got a service error gift from SHS and that began a 4-0 run by the home side that had Summit down 22-19 forcing a Martins TO. Off the TO the Dragons missed the serve which put Captain Henry on the line and she delivered 3 consecutive aces to force a KP TO and give the Hilltoppers the edge at 23-22. Off the time-out, Summit forced a Dragon hitting error and just like that, SHS was up 24-22 and held 2 set points. Unfortunately, the Dragons regained serve and forced the Top into a couple of bad passes which the Dragons took full advantage of to close out the set 26-24.
Set 2 was another carbon copy as both teams made some incredible plays and ran some effective defense so it was no surprise that the score read 14-14 midway through the match. Summit clawed to a lead of 16-14 and 17-15 but both times the team missed a serve to open the door for the Dragons but the home side could not take advantage as it was the Kent Place side which committed the next few errors to give Summit a slight lead but after Basaman nailed the home side with an ace to give SHS a 21-17 lead, the Dragons were forced to call a TO. KP got the next 3 of 5 points thanks to 2 consecutive service errors by the SHS crew and it seemed that the same old story of missed serves at the wrong time would be the Top's undoing. But at 23-20, Summit just needed a few plays to flip the script and they got just that from Herring and Welsh despite another SHS service error to win the set 25-21.
Set 3 was, yes, yet again, another carbon copy of the first 2 sets as the Summit crew jumped out to a 9-4 lead just to see the Dragons come back and tie it at 10. KP took a 14-10 lead with an ace and a kill to set that up but the Top had cut that to 14-15 after a Herring block and a N Feuerstake kill. Henry even got into it with a deliberate free ball dump to zone 1 and suddenly, Summit was only down 15-16. But a quick 3-0 run by KP off 2 KP kills and 1 SHS attack error forced a SHS TO at 19-15 KP.
But the TO seemed to do the trick and the Summit side responded with a Ge kill and forced a Dragon hitting error to get within 2 at 19-17 but KP responded with a 5-0 run (4 kills 1 ace) to get itself a 24-17 lead and the comfortable win... until KP served into the net. 18-24 KP...
Basaman went up to serve and facing 6 match points, the junior went to work. A tough serve still led to a KP attack which A Feuerstake dug up and it set up a huge Ge kill. The Kent Place side saw the rise of emotion and quickly called a TO despite a 24-19 lead. But it was to no avail... Basaman rattled off 2 straight aces to cut the lead to 21-24 and the place was deafening. Another huge serve led to a KP attack up the middle and even though the team saved that one, it was not enough to generate an attack and the squad finally gave up that 25th point.
A disappointing loss, no doubt, but a tremendous improvement and an incredible effort against a team that would defeat the #9 team in the state the very next match.
RAHWAY OVERWHELMED BY MORE EFFICIENT SUMMIT EFFORT
The Rahway Indians looked to finish the job they started at home earlier in September when they pushed the Hilltoppers to 3 sets and it took a very effective serving performance in set 3 for the Top to come away with the victory. Based on the week, which team would show up? The Elizabeth squad or the Kent Place team?
Well... Summit out-scored Rahway 35-6, limiting Rahway to 2 kills and 4 aces for the 2 set match in a dominant 25-10, 25-15 win.
With the score 11-5 Summit, it was clear Rahway was in for a long afternoon as the 5 points the team had scored came from SHS hitting and service errors and 0 came from any RHS efforts. After a 3-0 run fueled by a Herring and Ge kills and a Welsh ace, Rahway took a TO with a 14-6 deficit. The visitors had to do it again after a N Feuerstake kill and 3 consecutive Henry aces brough SHS to a 19-8 lead. RHS managed to get to 10 points and then Summit ran another 4-0 run fueled by an A Feuerstake ace and a Deyonge kill to finish off the set 25-10.
Set 2 was more competitive but SHS still held control as Summit team responded to being down 2-0 early with 9 consecutive points (kills by Feuerstake sisters, ace Ge, Herring kill) to take a 9-2 lead forcing a TO. RHS came off the TO and got a gift in the form of a Summit hitting error and that sparked a 4-0 run that had SHS only ahead 9-6. The Indians stuck to the Hilltoppers midway through with SHS holding a 14-10 lead but a Rahway service error opened the door for a Basaman service run that saw the Junior strike for 3 aces to get the Top to a 19-10 lead which soon became 21-10 after a Ge kill.
The rest was merely academic as the RHS side just could not cut into the lead and trailed 23-13 late which soon became 25-15 as both teams traded points.
A week of growth as the team has seemed to figure out what it needs to do to be successful.
MATCH STATS: BEASTS - BY THE NUMBERS:
ACE - Henry 8, Basaman 6
SERVE RATING (at least 7% of team attempts) - N Feuerstake 2.33, Henry 2.29
SERVE % (at least 7% of team attempts) - A Feuerstake 96.3, N Feuerstake 91.7
PASS RATING (1.8 or higher) - Heary 1.95, Henry 1.85
PERFECT PASSES - Henry 12, Ge 10
KILLS - Ge 18, N Feuerstake 12
EFFICIENCY (at least 10% of team attempts) - N Feuerstake .219, Welsh .200
KILL % (at least 10% of team attempts) - N Feuerstake 37.5, Deyonge 31.0
DIGS - Henry 37, Ge 26
BLOCKS - Deyonge 4, Herring and Welsh 3
ASSISTS - Welsh 61
***TOP POINT SCORERS (Kills, Aces, Blocks***)
Ge 20, N Feuerstake 17, Welsh 14
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